BEIJING - China's maternal mortality dropped to 26.1 per 100,000 last year, down 51 percent from 2000, while the death rates for infants and children under five years old decreased to 12.1 and 15.6 per 1,000 respectively, official figures showed.

Under-one-year-olds' mortality rate decreased 62 percent from 2000, while the death rate for children under five dropped 61 percent, according to figures Health Minister Chen Zhu disclosed at a national conference Thursday.

Summarizing the remarkable progress China has made in promoting mother and child health care in the 2011-2010 period, Chen noted that maternal mortality continues to decrease while the female life expectancy has reached 75.2 years.

The Health Ministry recently issued an action plan for mother and child health care in 2011-2020, detailing goals in ensuring life safety, lifting natural population quality, diseases control, and improving nutritional conditions, according to Chen.

Under the plan, China aims to bring its maternal mortality further down to 22 per 100,000 and decrease the infant and under-five death rates to 12 and 14 per 1,000 by 2015.